PEERtrainer's Tip of The Day Blog Provides Diet and Fitness Tips For Our Community Members. This is a conversation with our community.

November 18, 2008

Take A Walk - Even 5 Minutes Of Walking Can Have Tremendous Benefits

I just posted to my PEERtrainer log and unfortunately, I had to write in my workout section "no tennis today :( ". With work and children obligations, I'm just not going to be able to carve out an hour. I was feeling sort of bummed, but then I remembered my old standby, taking a walk.

Walking is easy to fit in, no matter what. It's hard to find an excuse not to take a 5 minute walk. If you live in the city, it's almost built in to your day automatically but if not, it's still one of the easiest activities to fit into any schedule.

Dr. Andrew Weil talks about walking and the actual movement of your arms swaying in an opposite way, back and forth as having amazing health benefits. If you're having trouble starting out on your regimen or if you just need to destress, be alone with your thoughts to do some thinking, solve a problem, there is nothing like a walk to get your mind in a different space to come up with new thoughts and a new sense of renewal. If you live in the city, your walk can be as simple as walking right past your apartment to the next neighborhood. (by the way, 20 blocks equal a mile, an avenue is about 1 and a 1/2 blocks, as a general rule).

If you live in the suburbs, take a walk right outside your door or outside of your office. The parks usually have beautiful walking paths and they can be more convenient than you ever imagined. Local high schools have tracks and usually lots of regulars that can motivate you and get you going.

You don't have to walk for an hour to feel a sense of accomplishment. Even 5 minutes a day is the start of a great habit that will have tremendous health benefits down the road.

So I will be walking at lunch today, no matter what! Feel free to check into my log today and hold me to it! We have lots of walking groups on PEERtrainer, click here to find one and just type "walk" in the search window.